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Guests are not able to post messages or even read certain areas of the forums. Now, that's boring, don't you think? Registration, on the other hand, is simple, completely free of charge, and does not require you to give out any personal information at all. As soon as you register, you can take part in some of the happy fun things at the forums such as posting messages, voting in polls, sending private messages to people and being told that this is where we drink tea and eat cod.

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Akala Island's premiere battle destination, the Battle Royal Dome is home to the blistering-hot free-for-alls you can only find in the sunny Alola region. Modeled after a boxing ring, the arena is a high-tech battleground that, despite its no-frills appearance, can be modified to accomodate any pokémon species or attack. The roped-off sidelines may look flimsy, but they're backed by a powerful force field that ensures no pokémon--or attack--will go flying out of bounds.

Okay! We'll start off with everyone PMing me the pokémon they want to use. As a reminder, if you would like to rent a pokémon for this tournament, please also send me that pokémon's information, even if you don't want to send it out first.

Okay, sorry for the delay in getting these up; I made a mistake and didn't notice sanderidge didn't have any eligible pokémon in her active squad. For this battle, she actually has a bounsweet and a pikipek. And here are the pokémon choices:

Kung Fu Ferret (OO) Ymir (M) <Snow Cloak>
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%

RedneckPhoenix (OO) Doge (M) <Vital Spirit>
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%

sanderidge (OO) Ette (F) <Sweet Veil>
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%

Superbird (OO) Corie (F) <Merciless>
Health: 100%
Energy: 100%

It's time for attacks! Please PM them to me, two attacks for this first round.

The preparations for ASB's impromptu Battle Royal tournament perhaps aren't the most inspiring--a small sandwich board set up near the ring with "ASB Tournament Enter HERE" written on it in permanent marker. The small group of trainers hanging around the designated arena seems to be in good spirits, though, if a bit patient for the battle to get rolling. A couple people have wandered off to watch the other battles going on, but they hurry back when the bell sounds above the ring, announcing, at last, the start of the match.

The pokémon sent into battle are perhaps a little more apprehensive than their trainers. For most of them, this is their very first time seeing battle, and facing down three opponents is a lot more stressful than dealing with only one. Only Doge doesn't seem even a little bit bothered, bouncing in place while he awaits his commands, tail going like mad. Ette's bouncing, too, but more out of nerves, and Corie flexes her tentacles back and forth, restless but doing her best to focus on sizing up the competition. Ymir rasps his claws against one another, quiet but watchful, but even the stoic sandshrew can't suppress a burst of nerves and excitement when the bell sounds again and the battle begins.

No sooner has the round been called than Doge trots over to Ette, bowing down with tail wagging and tongue lolling, begging her to play. The bounsweet's charmed despite herself; he seems so friendly! He's so charming, in fact, that she barely even notices Ymir tossing an icy blue charge of energy into the air, not even once it starts shedding hailstones over the arena. And no one at all is paying much attention to Corie as she sweeps her tendrils through the air, spreading a neat arc of poison spikes between herself and her three opponents.

At the last moment, Ette remembers that her trainer had a command for her. A rush of guilt and anxiety breaks her temporarily out of her trance--she needs to do a good job to impress her new trainer! She can't just go forgetting her orders in the middle of a battle! The bounsweet forces herself to focus, to ignore Doge for just a second, and raise a shield of energy to protect herself for a while. The reflect pops into existence a second later, a shimmering perfect sphere with Ette lying quietly in the middle.

That, of course, is rather boring to Doge himself. Since Ette's being no fun, he goes over to try and get Corie to play with him instead. He stands just on the far side of her toxic spike barrier and yaps until he's sure he's got her attention. Corie watches him bound back and forth, begging her to come out from behind her wall of spikes and chase him. He really is very cute. Corie burbles uncertainly, torn between obeying her trainer and dashing off to join Doge just like he's begging her to.

Ymir isn't impressed by all the doe-eyes going on between his opponents. The sandshrew stamps a foot, hitting the mat with a sharp thump that might have gotten the others' attention even without the storm of tremors it unleashes. The tough mat ripples and trembles, bouncing pokémon and poison spikes in all directions; it's a wonder there aren't any collisions between the two.

Ette ends up lying dangerously close to one when the earthquake finally dies down, staring mesmerized at its viciously sharp points, the smears of poison she can see coating the stabbing tips. If she'd touched that, it would have made her terribly sick, poisoned. And think... just think... her trainer was telling her to do that to Doge. Just spit up the foulest toxins she can muster all over him, try to make him sick, even worse than one of these nasty little spikes would have done. Horrible! Just horrible! It makes Ette shudder just to think about it. There's simply no way she could do that to Doge, no, absolutely not.

Corie's thoughts are on Doge, too, but she apparently isn't considering the effect her toxic spikes might have on him. The mareanie hums dreamily to herself, swaying back and forth to scatter another dense layer of spikes in a broad arc before her, renewing her barricade now that the original one's gone in all directions.

Terrain Notes
Hail patters down over the arena (7 more actions), and the hailstones mix with scattered poison spikes. Most of the spikes are concentrated in a semicircle around Corie, but the earthquake's thrown them in all directions, so at least a few have crept into every corner of the ring.

Final Notes
- Toxic spikes are on the field! Any pokémon that comes into contact with one, whether by stepping on it or being shoved, thrown, etc. onto it by some outside force, will become poisoned. Nicking a spike a second time, or while already poisoned by some other effect, will upgrade the poison to toxic-poision.
- Please PM me your next set of commands.

If I'm reffing your ASB battle, you can find my reffing scale in this document. Mostly it involves details on stat modifications and status conditions, as well as my interpretation of the damage formula, other clarifications regarding the specifics of certain attacks.

Ette rights herself with a small squeak of effort, peering out through the soap-bubble shimmer of her reflect shield, getting a handle on the situation now that the aftershocks have finally faded. To her surprise, Doge's bounding in her direction again, tongue lolling and tail curled up in that adorable let's-play barely-contained wag of his. The bounsweet does her best to hide her elation and act cool . Hey... hey, does Ette want to hear a secret?

Ette feels like she might just burst from sheer excitement. It's all she can do to make an awkward full-body nod, then lean in close when Doge starts to whisper something to her. And wow, that is--that's actually pretty shocking, is all Ette has time to think before Ymir comes hurtling out of nowhere and smashes headfirst into Doge, knocking him flying and cutting off all his juicy revelations.

A horrified Ette rushes to help Doge up--which, since she doesn't have any arms, mostly involves bouncing around him in a circle and chirping as much encouragement as she can. The rockruff gets painfully to his feet, but after a couple wincing steps he's feeling more or less fine. Just one super-effective attack--it takes a lot more than that to keep a good dog down!

Across the arena, Corie stands fuming behind her barricade of spikes, her tentacles writhing and curling in pure jealousy and spite. That bounsweet--Doge's going to go cuddling up to her, really? But that sandshrew--that sandshrew's the absolute worst. And Corie's getting tired of being bonked over the head by hailstones anyway. The mareanie raises her tentacles above her head, twining them in sinuous patterns and swaying faintly side to side as she calls on esoteric power over weather. The hail thins, then stops altogether, and a second later a wicked downpour's drenching the arena with torrential force.

Doge sneezes, gives his fur a shake, and then, to Ette's utter and complete horror, saunters off in Corie's direction. It's almost like the rain made him remember she was there. Ette tries to keep up, but her stubby legs are her downfall. She barely gets close enough to hear Doge, standing just beyond the wall of spikes as usual, call out to the mareanie. Hey. Hey, Corie--wanna hear a secret?

Ette doesn't get a chance to eavesdrop because Ymir, still not at all interested in the romantic entanglements of his fellow battlers, takes this opportunity to drop an overwhelming wall of icicles on her. The wicked spears of ice are horribly cold, horribly sharp; they pin the bounsweet to the mat, crush her and stab her at the same time and overwhelm her with their chill. It's horrible, despite the protection of her reflect shield, and all Ette can do is cringe and try to turn her face away from the worst of the attack, completely forgetting her own command.

Meanwhile, Corie's thoroughly enjoying Doge's juicy secret, the two of them ignoring Ette's plaintive cries completely. In fact, all Corie really feels is mild annoyance at having to turn her attention back to the battle for a moment to satisfy her trainer. In all honesty, she'd be happy to add some scalding misery to Ette's predicament, but whatever, it's not as though she likes Ymir, either. The mareanie nails the sandshrew with a steaming-hot blast of water and doesn't even bother to watch his reaction, instead turning her attention back to Doge. Yes, this is fascinating; go on.

Terrain Notes
The hail's been replaced by a strange indoor rainstorm (7 more actions). Toxic spikes are still scattered all over the arena, especially around Corie.

Final Notes
- Just to clarify: yes, the two-actions-per-round thing will last for the whole battle. If you send me three actions, I'll just use the first two.
- Confide reset Corie and Ette's attraction levels. If used repeatedly, its effectiveness at doing so will wane.
- Send PM's for the next round, please.

Despite Corie hanging on his every word, Doge is quick to grow bored. Prancing around and chatting might be fun, but he's ready to fight now! Corie calls after him, but Doge isn't paying the slightest attention to her, all intent on his newest target. Ymir sees him coming and hunches in a defensive curl, but this only excites Doge further. The rockruff grabs his balled-up opponent and shakes vigorously, flames leaping around his jaws, then hurls him aside and chases him as he rolls across the arena, yapping enthusiastically.

Ymir's having none of that, though. The sandshrew uncurls abruptly and slams his paws against the mat, unleashing another earthquake. Corie sees it coming. She even vaguely remembers that she ought to do something about it to protect both Doge and herself. But she's so distressed by his abrupt departure that she can't seriously concentrate on pulling together a defense, and once the tremors start, both she and Doge are left unprotected.

Doge goes stumbling off, helpless against the powerful seismic waves, while poison spikes bounce and whizz through the air all around him. Miraculously, all the pokémon on the field once again escape being poisoned, but the arena's left in disarray.

Meanwhile, Ette's had plenty of opportunity to feel smug over Doge's apparent lack of interest in Corie--with her reflect and her natural resistance, a few shakes honestly don't bother her much. In fact, she's feeling so good she's prepared to get up and dance. The bounsweet hums to herself, wobbling around unsteadily on her too-short legs, having a great time, although only narrowly avoiding the minefield of toxic spikes scattered across the mat. It's the pokémon who catch sight of her that don't feel so great; there's something unsettling, something slightly off about Ette's weaving, rocking movements. They feel nauseous just watching and, unfortunately, the sensation doesn't go away once they manage to tear their eyes away from the bounsweet.

Doge isn't too perturbed by his sudden fit of vertigo. It feels kind of funny! And the weird drifting lights that sometimes cloud his vision are super pretty. It takes a bit of weaving around, but he manages to cross over to Ymir again, and this time the sandshrew hardly resists when the rockruff picks him up. Ymir hisses and claws at Doge's face once his teeth actually sink in, of course, but in general the sandshrew's having some trouble telling fantasy from reality. He lies on his back once Doge tosses him aside, trying and failing to rise as the mat keeps slipping out from under his feet somehow.

And Corie... Corie now has the guilt of not completing her wide guard to compound her anxiety over Doge's aloofness. The mareanie sits and frets while Ette takes aim, drawing on the odd sterile energy that permeates human-made places like this one to pull together a nature power attack. The pure white beam of energy shocks Corie back to the present, and she turns to face Ette, tentacles writing angrily. That smug, interfering little bounsweet! Corie's determined to get her back... just as soon as the room stops spinning.

Doge isn't too enamored with his commands this round. Go to sleep? But he's having so much fun!

It doesn't help that the mat underneath him doesn't want to stay still. He keeps trying to lie down for a nice nap, first circling up the way dogs do, but somehow the spot he's aiming for always evades him at the last second, leaving him lying on his side or even straight face-down, and how's he supposed to go to sleep like that?

While Doge's feeling his hallucinations worse than ever, Ymir's come to his senses, at least for the moment. Corie, still holding onto her indignation over Ette's attack, can see what's coming and manages a hasty defense, summoning rocks that materialize straight out of the material of the mat. The mareanie spreads the wide guard around herself, stabilizing the mat against the tremors Ymir's earthquake send out, and even manages to extend it to wrap around Doge, despite all his thrashing and flailing. In the end Ette's the only one to feel the shake, and her natural resistance, bolstered by reflect, means that the earthquake's more a fun, roller-coaster sort of experience than a painful one for the bounsweet. The whizzing toxic spikes miss her once again, and after the tremors die away and Corie's wall crumbles into nothing, Ette takes careful aim, once again drawing on the ambient energy of the arena, the excitement of the crowd. To her delight and Corie's utter disgust, the tri attack that results from her nature power leaves the mareanie crusted with ice, several of her spiny tentacles frozen together.

Doge hasn't really noticed anything that's been going on around him--the rockruff probably wouldn't even notice if the floor started shaking, because it's giving him more than enough trouble as it is. He continues rolling back and forth, not quite sure where to put his paws, definitely not relaxed enough for a nap, and now Ymir's back to flailing around helplessly, too. The sandshrew grumbles to himself, rather more self-aware than Doge and perfectly certain of the source of his troubles.

Without any need to defend herself from another earthquake, Corie is free, at last, to have her revenge on Ette. Burn and ice alike do little to hinder her sludge bomb, poison dripping from her tentacles as she snaps a few of the free ones towards Ette, and this attack the Bounsweet definitely feels. Ette squeaks in dismay, trying to shield herself with her leaves, but this only exposes them further to Corie's corrosive attack. Even worse, Ette still feels ill even after shaking most of the sludge off her body--a sure sign she's been poisoned, never a comforting thought when there's a mareanie nearby.

Still, she's doing more or less okay. Ette's reflect flickers, then goes out, but she replaces it with a new one just as quickly, determined to keep plugging along.

Terrain Notes
Rain continues to fall (3 more actions). The toxic spikes have once again gotten spread around the entire battlefield in a dense, chaotic mat.

Final Notes
- Once again, none of the toxic spikes hit Ette during the earthquake.
- Nature power became tri attack, which froze Corie.
- It's been a long time! Let's call it one week for the next round of commands, and I'll send you all notifications to know that this is up, too.

By this point Doge is actually howling as he rolls back and forth, confused, disoriented, and perhaps most of all not tired in the slightest. Why can't he fall asleep? All his master wants him to do is fall asleep, it should be so simple!

Ette keeps finding her eyes drawn to the rockruff, even though she knows she should be focusing on other things. He sounds so sad! She really doesn't know what Doge's struggling with, and the battle (plus its currently poison-spiky terrain) isn't going to give her the chance for a heart-to-heart, but her trainer does have some suggestions. An energy ball attack is, well, it's an unconventional way of cheering somebody up, but Ette supposes her trainer knows best. The bounsweet forms a round blob of pulsing green energy, pouring into it all her well-wishes for Doge, and tosses it to him.

Doge rather flubs the catch--he's trying to sleep, after all--and his howling only gets louder after the energy ball bursts against his side. Ette squeaks in distress, horrified by her mistake, but the pain she feels at having hurt Doge is shortly eclipsed by the literal, physical pain she feels as a result of Corie's revenge.

Like the mareanie wasn't mad at Ette enough, now she goes and attacks Doge like that? That's it. That's it. And now that Ette's poisoned, there's nothing to stop Corie from bringing her full power to bear.

Ette gasps and goes rigid as she's struck by a blast of acid from Corie's tentacles. The worst of it isn't actually the pain from the toxins themselves, but rather the reaction they set off with the poison already in her system. It feels like the venoshock's setting her afire from the inside out, turning her blood caustic and spreading pain throughout her entire body. Ette can't move, she can't think--nothing until the reaction begins to wind down and the pain, at last, begins to recede. Shivering, the bounsweet gulps down a substantial breath of air, trying to get herself under control again. She's not going to let Corie see how much that attack hurt. She's not.

Ymir, as usual, is staying out of all that relationship drama. The sandshrew, feeling for the moment refreshingly lucid and calm, raises his paws in the air to call down a hailstorm, and then rolls to his feet and begins stomping up a good old earthquake. Its effects on the other combatants are predictable: Doge and Corie, this time unprotected, weather it poorly, while Ette hardly feels it behind her reflect. In fact, to add insult to injury, the bounsweet puts on a sunny smile and then calls up an even sunnier day, a touch of fire energy dispersing the clouds overhead and turning the ceiling lights up to an oppressive level of heat and brightness.

Doge probably couldn't sleep through that, even if he were inclined to, but Corie's actually feeling a little better: all that sun should melt the ice off her quite nicely. Slightly dazed, the mareanie reaches her tentacles towards the light overhead. Hello, sun... Wait, what was she supposed to be doing again? Corie's tentacles go limp, with the result that they cascade uncomfortably back over her face as they fall down straight again. The mareanie sits blinking, trying to figure out just what's going on. Man, she's feeling messed up.

Terrain Notes
The current dominant weather is sun, bringing light and warmth to the arena at last (8 more actions). The toxic spikes have once again gotten spread around the entire battlefield in a dense, chaotic mat.

Final Notes
- Yet again, none of the toxic spikes hit anyone during the earthquake.
- Doge's vital spirit prevents him from resting.
- Three days for your next set of commands, please!

Rather relieved to not have to keep trying to sleep, Doge leaps back to his feet, stumbles, but ultimately recovers and pounces on Ymir, tail wagging madly and fire streaming from his jaws. The sandshrew yells and swipes with his stubby claws, trying to dislodge the rockruff who's clamped his jaws on Ymir's back. Ordinarily the sandshrew's tough scales would protect him from a bite like that, but the fire melts right through them, leaving Ymir cringing and miserable even when, after approximately five seconds, Doge decides he's bored and drops the sandshrew.

After the scathing venoshock last round, Ette's glad the sun's on her side; it gives her the perfect opportunity for revenge. The leaves atop the bounsweet's head tremble and glow for a second as she draws in the power of the newly-strengthened sun (err, ceiling lights). That's all it takes--a second--and then the bounsweet blasts Corie with a searing column of solar energy. The attack scours the ice right off the mareanie's tentacles, but of course it also hurts, and mightily, and leaves a disoriented Corie lashing out weakly with her tentacles, with little more thought in her head than that she has to get Ette back, she has to protect Doge, somehow, she has to... somehow.

Doge himself has no idea he has any such champion; choosing Ette as his next target is as simple as orders and the fact that she looks like so much fun to play with. She's basically a ball! And she smells so nice! The rockruff grabs Ette with a fire fang, taking her yelp of pain for a cry of delight, picks her up, shakes her, then tosses her aside, only to chase after her, barking, while she bounces away. He might have gone after her again, immediately, if the floor hadn't abruptly slipped out from under him, rocked by seismic waves. Ymir's recovered from his own encounter with fire fang, and he's not pleased.

The earthquake, as usual, knocks Doge and Ette around and sends toxic spikes whizzing in all directions--yet again to not actually hit anyone. Corie plants her tentacles firmly and bows her head, riding out the earthquake with grim, and somewhat queasy, determination. Once it's over, she does her best to relax--she feels genuinely awful, stiff and burned and disoriented and still the faintest bit lovestruck--but taking a couple of minutes to relax, step back, and stop working so hard does wonders for her mental state at least. Too bad it can't do much for all her physical injuries.

It's Ette who's working to get rid of those. Drawing on the brilliant not-sunlight, the bounsweet starts up a massive wave of cell regeneration and repair, the marks left by Doge's teeth vanishing in seconds and all other physical signs of damage shortly thereafter. The bounsweet's reflect shimmers out of existence, which is fine with her--it takes effort to maintain, after all, and right now she really only has the energy to devote to her synthesis. In the end the bounsweet's left utterly exhausted but physically restored--until an unpleasant cramp tells her that Corie's poison is still working its way through her body, taking a little of the shine off her new state of health.

Terrain Notes
The hot artificial sunlight continues (6 more actions). The toxic spikes have once again gotten spread around the entire battlefield in a dense, chaotic mat.

Final Notes
- I messed up last round in thinking venoshock was a physical attack; since it's special, it should have done substantially more damage. I fixed that up for this round. Practically the only result was that Ette used more energy for her synthesis.
- Also fixed Ette's poison to 2%/round (how much it was dealing anyway, that was just an aesthetic typo).
- Seventy-two hours for commands.

Righting himself after the earthquake, Doge makes a beeline back to Ymir, intending to play with the sandshrew again. For whatever reason, Ymir doesn't seem too excited about the prospect. He hisses when Doge approaches and seems to take offense at his playful lunge--the sandshrew executes a quick roll to the side, and Doge's flaming jaws close on nothing. The sanshrew pops out of his curl and keeps backing away from Doge, a ball of icy energy gathering in one palm as he does so. Never taking his eyes off Doge, Ymir raises his paw into the air, releasing the icy energy overhead. In seconds the burning light ceases and a scattering of hailstones begins to fall.

Corie might not be thrilled about getting pelted with more ice, but at least the hailstorm won't sap the power of her surf the way the sun would. The mareanie's tentacles slowly rise, writhing all the way, and water rises with them, pouring into the arena from pipes hidden beneath the mat. Even Doge doesn't look all that excited by the prospect of going for a swim, but there's nowhere for him, or anyone else, to run; the wave crests and crashes, and the arena's awash in water, drifting toxic spikes, and disoriented pokémon.

Ette bangs painfully up against the energy barrier keeping the pokémon from flying out of the arena, but other than that she's feeling pretty good. The water doesn't really bother her, and it's already beginning to seep out through unseen drains, setting the bounsweet gently down on the mat. She lies there quietly, just relaxing, while the drama of battle carries on without her.

Quite on the opposite end of the comfort spectrum is Doge, who's draggled and waterlogged, dripping miserably as he shakily gets back to his feet. It's hard to summon fire, wet as he is, and he isn't feeling well, either. It's a miracle the rockruff manages to distinguish Ymir's shining armor amongst the glittering hailstones, but somehow he does, and makes a powerful lunge despite his weakness.

Ymir roars as Doge's fangs clamp down on him again, flailing and clawing blindly, trying to get away. When the rockruff releases him, he lands heavily back on the mat, already stomping madly, kicking up another earthquake. The first few weak tremors are enough to do Doge in, the weakened rockruff collapsing and the sound of the bell ringing out even over the powerful rumble of the rising earthquake. Ymir pants, one paw pressed to the tender, half-melted spot on his armor where Doge's teeth sank in. The first knockout is his, but it was not without cost.

Terrain Notes
Hail pelts the arena (7 more actions), which is damp and littered with toxic spikes.

Final Notes
- The first KO of the match goes to Kung Fu Ferret! As per the battle rules, the round stopped immediately after Doge was knocked out, so neither Ette nor Corie took a second action.
- Because RedneckPhoenix only has one other pokémon eligible for this battle, he will be using Meme-ikyu the mimikyu next. Everybody has three days to give their next set of commands.

Doge disappears in a flash of red light, and both Ette and Corie feel small pangs of remorse, no matter how they try to convince themselves they're over that pretender.

The pokémon RedneckPhoenix releases to replace Doge is every inch as cute as the rockruff was, although he seems a bit more shy. The spectral laugh he lets out upon seeing his opponents, though--that's a little more unnerving than adorable.

More than just being cute, Meme-ikyu is fully aware of it, and he wastes no time before taking advantage. The mimikyu scuttles over to Ette, chirping brightly. Does she want to be friends? He hopes so! He really hopes so! All he wants is to have a friend!

Ette's had her heart broken once before, of course, but she can't help but find Meme-ikyu charming. And he's a completely different person, of course. Completely different... And it's not a good look, is it, to be so suspicious?

It only gets worse for Corie, because Ymir, clearly an adherent of the "ain't-broke-don't-fix-it" school of thought, stomps heavily on the mat, sending another earthquake rattling through the arena. The brutal shaking leaves Corie woozy and semiconscious, working desperately to stay in the fight more out of spite than anything. She's not going to let Ette best her... She's not...

The mareanie's tentacles twist and squirm fitfully while she gathers herself, putting all she's got left into one final burst of healing. And it works--the bruises left by repeated earthquakes fade, the energy burns from tri-attack likewise, and in physical terms she's substantially better off. The amount of energy needed to recover from her injuries was steep, though, and Corie's left winded and woozy, slumped over sideways and too tired to right herself.

This leaves her somewhat more vulnerable to Meme-ikyu's advances than she might otherwise be. The mimikyu leaves Ette behind and saunters over to Corie instead. Like Doge before him, he's decided he want to hit on both the available ladies, and he's just about attractive enough to pull it off. Corie stares up at him, dazed by exhaustion and the unexpected attention. Venoshock? No, no... Too much effort. She'd much rather rest, hope to get her breath back, and bask in Meme-ikyu's friendly attempts at conversation.

As before, Ette isn't tremendously pleased that Corie's trying to steal her crush. Unfortunately, the Mareanie's looking a lot better now--Ette doubts a single attack would finish her off. She'll have to save her revenge for later. For now, a little defense wouldn't go amiss. A second later a glowing reflect shield blinks into place around the bounsweet, and none too soon, because just one more second passes before another earthquake rattles the arena. It's fortunate that the floor's a sturdy polymer mat and not natural earth, or by this point it would surely be so shattered that there'd be nowhere safe to stand.

Doge disappears in a flash of red light, and both Ette and Corie feel small pangs of remorse, no matter how they try to convince themselves they're over that pretender.

The pokémon RedneckPhoenix releases to replace Doge is every inch as cute as the rockruff was, although he seems a bit more shy. The spectral laugh he lets out upon seeing his opponents, though--that's a little more unnerving than adorable.

More than just being cute, Meme-ikyu is fully aware of it, and he wastes no time before taking advantage. The mimikyu scuttles over to Ette, chirping brightly. Does she want to be friends? He hopes so! He really hopes so! All he wants is to have a friend!

Ette's had her heart broken once before, of course, but she can't help but find Meme-ikyu charming. And he's a completely different person, of course. Completely different... And it's not a good look, is it, to be so suspicious?

It only gets worse for Corie, because Ymir, clearly an adherent of the "ain't-broke-don't-fix-it" school of thought, stomps heavily on the mat, sending another earthquake rattling through the arena. The brutal shaking leaves Corie woozy and semiconscious, working desperately to stay in the fight more out of spite than anything. She's not going to let Ette best her... She's not...

The mareanie's tentacles twist and squirm fitfully while she gathers herself, putting all she's got left into one final burst of healing. And it works--the bruises left by repeated earthquakes fade, the energy burns from tri-attack likewise, and in physical terms she's substantially better off. The amount of energy needed to recover from her injuries was steep, though, and Corie's left winded and woozy, slumped over sideways and too tired to right herself.

This leaves her somewhat more vulnerable to Meme-ikyu's advances than she might otherwise be. The mimikyu leaves Ette behind and saunters over to Corie instead. Like Doge before him, he's decided he want to hit on both the available ladies, and he's just about attractive enough to pull it off. Corie stares up at him, dazed by exhaustion and the unexpected attention. Venoshock? No, no... Too much effort. She'd much rather rest, hope to get her breath back, and bask in Meme-ikyu's friendly attempts at conversation.

As before, Ette isn't tremendously pleased that Corie's trying to steal her crush. Unfortunately, the Mareanie's looking a lot better now--Ette doubts a single attack would finish her off. She'll have to save her revenge for later. For now, a little defense wouldn't go amiss. A second later a glowing reflect shield blinks into place around the bounsweet, and none too soon, because just one more second passes before another earthquake rattles the arena. It's fortunate that the floor's a sturdy polymer mat and not natural earth, or by this point it would surely be so shattered that there'd be nowhere safe to stand.

Corie is at last snapped out of her reverie by the sight of Ymir, in her peripheral vision, raising one foot high. The mareanie knows exactly what that means, and also that she's going to have to work fast to protect herself and Meme-ikyu both. Tapping into the strange energy of the arena, she brings a low wall of rocks jutting up out of the floor, isolating the part of the mat that she and Meme-ikyu are standing on from the rest, which a second later starts to convulse with the onset of another earthquake. Poor Ette's left out on her own, and even worse, this time a couple of the bouncing toxic spikes actually nick her, the scratches they leave burning ominously.

The bounsweet tries to ignore this, as well as her jealousy at the display Corie put on for Meme-ikyu, and focus on her own attack. Ymir shudders as an unnatural green glow surrounds him, then groans as the very air around him feels like it becomes heavier, and he has to fight to stay on his feet. The horrible fatigue doesn't leave even when the glow disappears, and Ette chirps to herself, pleased by a small rush of energy, courtesy her unwilling opponent.

Meme-ikyu, not appreciating how close he came to being caught up in the earthquake, chuckles to himself and raises shadowy claws over his head, summoning lightning from above. A mighty thunderbolt strikes one of the poles at the edge of the arena with a crash and an impressive spray of sparks, but completely fails to damage any of the pokémon in the ring.

Unfortunately for the mimikyu and Corie herself, the mareanie's too tired to bring up another wide guard so suddenly. All Corie can do is put her head down and ride out another stomach-lurching earthquake. By this point, she's simply feeling terrible and hoping for a break, even though it'll mean leaving Meme-ikyu behind.

At least Ymir's clearly flagging, too, supporting himself with a forepaw on the mat, panting in the wake of his own earthquake. Wrapped up in unhappy thoughts, Corie is totally unprepared for the bolt of lightning that comes roaring down from overhead. The mareanie lets out a squeak, recoiling as the thunder attack blackens a patch of the mat right next to her. The surprises only continue when the bell sounds a second later, and Corie looks around in confusion. Wait, that didn't hit anybody--who fainted?

It turns out to be Ymir, collapsed facedown on the mat. Meanwhile, Ette's looking awfully smug, if perhaps a little queasy. Corie growls, tentacles coiling and thrashing. Of course it would be Ette over there, stealing the knock-outs.

Final Notes
- Yes, both of Meme-ikyu's thunders rolled to miss.
- Corie's wide guard protected Meme-ikyu from the first earthquake.
- Ette got hit by toxic spikes and had her poisoning upgraded to bad poisoning.
- That's a KO for sanderidge! Kung Fu Ferret only has one other eligible pokémon, so he'll be sending out Bellona next round: